phipps] HYGIENE AS A SIXTH GRADE SUBJECT 257 



if all should grow, and reasons why so many seeds do not 

 bring forth new plants. In a very elementary way it is the 

 study of the struggle of plants for existence. The same study 

 in a still more limited way may be carried into the animal 

 kingdom. Some common types of birds and fishes may be 

 studied with reference to the approximate number of eggs laid 

 each year, average number hatched, and causes which lead to 

 the destruction of so large a proposition of the eggs and young. 

 Next factors influencing man's struggle for life may be touched 

 upon, and then might follow, as a logical step, the discussion of 

 methods for securing and maintaining public and personal 

 health, namely, the study of hygiene. 



Undoubtedly the cause of such poor results in teaching 

 hygiene is due more to wrong methods in presenting the sub- 

 ject to young pupils than to the particular grade or grades 

 in which it may be taught. Hygiene, deals with things of 

 everyday life, and should be presented from that standpoint. 

 The logical way for older students is to begin with the study 

 of physiology and anatomy, learning about the framework of 

 the body, the organs and their functions, the nervous system 

 etc. Then a formal study of the care of the body, hygiene, 

 would begin. But if .this method were followed with chil- 

 dren their interest would soon be killed, or probably very little 

 interest would be aroused. They are interested in what goes 

 on about them, and the method of enlisting their interest in 

 hygiene is to take up the subject in the reverse order to that 

 used with older students, beginning with discussions of things 

 concerning their own experiences in matters of cleanliness and 

 health. In this way an interest is awakened and kept alive, 

 and later the child will ask the how, the why, and the what of 

 things concerning his body, and thus he will approach from 

 his own initiative the deeper branches of the study. This 

 method of health teaching leads the child from the known to 

 the unknown, a sound pedagogical principle. This method is 

 emphasized in the report of the National Society for the 

 Study of Education for 1910. To quote — "Since hygiene 

 means habit, the general basis for the grouping of hygienic 

 data (in elementary schools) should not be anatomical and 

 physiological structure, but the activities that make health, 

 whether they are personal, social or political. For example, 

 all useful knowledge bearing upon the circulation of the blood 

 should not be centered about the heart and lungs, but rather 

 all facts likely to serve as a stimulus to the breathing of fresh 



